Sandy Hook

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Right Wing Review: 8/28 - 9/3, 2011

It's easy enough to poke fun at the certified nuts and extremists featured in this week's review, and to treat them with well deserved sarcasm, which I most certainly do. If only I could forget the article I wrote not too long ago about the 14 characteristics of fascism, maybe I would have less cause for concern, less reason to be afraid or so damn angry. None of the stupidity, hate and racism found here is the least bit funny. Taken as a whole, it is truly frightening and more than a bit overwhelming.

All God's Children

Comparing atheists to "convicted sex offenders, ex-convicts, terrorist cells, hate groups like the KKK. skinheads, radical Islamists, etc.," Florida pastor Michael Stahl wants an organization and website that would keep track of known atheists. This heavenly site would list all atheists by city and state, and include photos of the criminals and their personal information such as place of business. The good pastor seems to be missing a congregation but no doubt he would welcome visitors here.

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association is about to go into a major rupture over that sinister New York City mayor's decision not to invite religious leaders of any ilk to participate in the 9/11 ceremonies. Obviously, Bloomberg is "playing favorites, and his favoritism is heavily stacked toward Muslims." Obviously, public prayers should "be reserved for Christians and Jews." Obviously, the Founding Fathers would have wanted it that way.

The leader of a "Christian environmental think tank" Dr. E. Calvin Beisner says, "protests outside the White House by members of the 'religious left' over a proposed oil pipeline from Canada to Texas are just a publicity stunt." ". . . the Bible tells them that they're supposed to obey the governing authorities unless those governing authorities either require them to do what God forbids or forbids them to do what God requires -- and that has not happened. So they are actually disobeying scripture by doing this."

The sickest and most bizarre "Christian" site I've ever seen offers to purchase your children.
(UPDATE: I've been informed that this is satire. Hell, you could have fooled me. I guess I wouldn't be surprised at anything some fundies would do.)

Capitol Hill Circus

To help his fellow Republicans block President Obama from making any appointments while Congress is in recess, last Tuesday Freshman Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) had the dubious distinction of playing House speaker pro tempore -- an awesome task that bears much responsibility. During this brief four or five minute session Denham read the Pledge of Allegiance, someone said a prayer, and then he was off and running to the races. Er, the ballgame -- in California where he was scheduled to throw out the first pitch at a Modesto Nuts game. Nuts?

Apparently not happy with just slashing hell out of funding to vital programs in the U.S., Republicans have introduced legislation "that seeks to force major changes in the United Nations, using as leverage the threat to withhold some of the U.S.'s 22 percent contribution to the world body's operating budget." The bill was sponsored by Wonder Woman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is on a par with NC's Virginia Foxx heading a subcommittee on education.

Crazy Candidates

In a rare moment of right wing hypocrisy, Rick Santorum says criticism of his views on homosexuality is an "act of bigotry."

The always delusional Allen West proclaims he's the "modern-day Harriet Tubman," and says he's the one that will get the nation's African-Americans off the "21st century plantation." They just have to follow his footsteps and join the Tea Party -- that political movement which wants to take the country back to a bygone era of a slave in every home.

In yet another delusional moment, West thinks the Congressional Black Caucus is going to beg this dandy not to leave the caucus as he threatened to do after Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) remarked that Tea Party members in Congress would "love to see you and me hanging on a tree." Carson has it; West doesn't.

Potpourri of a Smelly Kind

Good grief, there must be something in Florida's drinking water besides salt. Freshman Tea Party Rep. Steve Southerland "hates his new job." The poor fellow said "his $174,000 salary is not so much, considering the hours a member of the House puts in, and that he had to sever ties with his family business in Panama City." The median income in his district is $34,718. There's more to this heart-breaking tale.

There are those in the know and then there are those who don't have a clue. Freshwoman Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), who voted to repeal the health care law, was puzzled when a couple of those pesty constituents asked about her health benefits at a town hall meeting. At first she couldn't understand why folks were so interested in "her' health care -- "taxpayers don't pay any of it." She corrected herself after staff members handed her a note. Maybe this explains why she gets an 80 percent rating from the Heritage Foundation.

To his credit the honorable Joe Walsh (R-Ill), who allegedly owes over $100,000 in child support, had a racist slip of the tongue in an MSNBC interview when he implied that Obama was elected only because he's black. "I think that we elected the president for who he was, a historic figure and made the country feel good to elect him. . . " Of course, "the president is bankrupting the country and destroying jobs creation. . ." And of course, "it is purely political for him to call a Joint Session of Congress to announce some jobs plan." And of course, Walsh has no intentions of attending -- speaking of being "purely political."

Michigan Republicans cut welfare and twist the Bible. They "passed a 48-month lifetime limiton welfare benefits expected to cast more than 11,000 families off the welfare rolls on Oct. 1 -- including more than 29,7000 children." Read the article to learn what the Bible says -- or doesn't say -- depending on who's saying it.

Right wing idiot and fear mongering columnist Matthew Vadum writes that registering the poor to vote is un-American and like "handing out burglary tools to criminals.""It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the non productive segments of the population to destroy the country. . ." (Emphasis mine and oh how I'd love to bitch slap this sick sub-human.)

Women who hate women. Penny Nance, writing on Concerned Women for America, blasts President Obama, Kathleen Sibelius and the Department of Health and Human Services for the decision requiring insurance companies to cover birth control and breast pumps with no co-pays. Very sick. Supremely twisted.

Take a Bow

A Tennessee Court rules that Muslims have a right to build houses of worship in this country. It's called religious freedom, nitwits.

Bi-partisan condemnation was swift in Arizona this past week. All it took was the GOP to announce that they were going to raffle off a Glock similar to the one used to shoot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head.

23 comments:

Hey now, Landover Baptist has the best Christians ever, who only want to help you with your extra kidlets. Maybe you don't know this but it is a satirical site with Betty Bowers being America's best Christian evah. They are along the lines of Christwire, who the fright wing thinks they are a real site for pushing Christian views.

The idjit that wants the registery of ahteists does not have to look far. If he were to use teh google for more than porn her would know there already is a site just for atheists willing to be out about it. Outcampaign.org I believe is the site.

All I have to say about Santorum is google him to keep his name up there.

You have lots to chew on and this is just this week from the fright wing.

The Arizona gun raffle was tone-deaf, I agree. And what is it with Santorum complaining about "bigotry" and "jihad" on the subject of his homophobia? He's the one who has opposed LGBT rights at every turn!

The sickest and most bizarre "Christian" site, is actually a satirical send up of christian cults, while it is as funny as a dead baby joke it is put out by a "devout athiest" group. I lurk at your blog often and I like it a lot. Keep up the good work.

Perhaps the one good thing about all the crazy batsh** Religious Right rhetoric/behavior is it's forcing more moderate and reasonable Republicans to jump ship. It is so polarizing and "out there" it may just backfire. Here's hoping.

Landover Baptist Creation Scientists have used Scripture to calculate every amount of payment except for the price of white females. Scripture teaches us that females are worth less than men (Leviticus 27:1-7), but since these are the last days, and the present economic and international situation is unbalanced during this time, we found it appropriate to modify the pricing where necessary. Members of the Young Christian Soldiers Program released these figures after days of concentrated prayer and meditation. We're also taking a big leap by jumping on the "politically correct" bandwagon here and announcing that the word "Colored" does not just refer to Negroes. It also includes Mexicans and any race of people visibly tainted by the sin of Ham (Genesis 9:20-28). And just because Negroes have smaller brains and extra bones in their ankles doesn't mean we should be prejudice toward their children. We are all God's people, even if we are of lesser value to Him because of our sex or race. Please note that the pricing table below reflects current rates as of January 17, 2003.

@Cognitive: Good point. Lately I have seen polls and heard conservatives make statements that indicate that this is indeed happening. What I fear more than anything else are these voter suppression laws.

@Sue:

"For years, reality has been nipping at the heels of satire. Now, it's finally caught up. I don't need to make this stuff up." Paul Krassner

Wow! I thought I had heard all of the really nutty things that the right wing have been saying, but your post is an education.

It's terrifying to think that these racist nitwits can influence the public. Or maybe the frightening thing is that the public are so easily influenced. We have become a nation of an ignorant electorate. How did this happen? I suppose we always were, but this silly season makes it more obvious.

That anyone in this day and age actually believes this mierda totally astounds me!!! It tells me that we need to get serious about education and go back to teaching critical thinking skills but that would scare the Right -- people who know how to think would throw them out! 100 years ago when I was at Kent State, I took a philosophy class called "How to Think Straight". It basically taught the methods used in swaying opinion like 'ad hominen attacks' and 'glittering generalities'. It's needed now.

And this is the comment I made when I posted it:"This is such a good article and underscores what I've been saying. How in hell do you wake people up to this and why can't the far left see that this is a far greater threat than some of Obama's mistakes?"

Ron Paul, in '92, declares: "Indeed, it is shocking to consider the uniformity of opinion among blacks in this country."

So, who does Rep. Paul caucus with? Lockstep-marching Republicans who don't dare step out of line for fear of having party campaign funds cut off or worse, being primaried. But blacks' uniformity of opinion, which exists mostly in Paul's addled mind, are a problem.

"Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty, and the end of welfare and affirmative action…."

Mighty damn inconsiderate of those blacks, not wanting to scuttle welfare and affirmative action, given how like the cream in whole milk, they've risen to the top economically thanks to our "free" market.

And Lord have mercy, how dem folks hates dat individual liberty. Always did prefer livin' in da shack da massah provided and doin' his work, so's they didn't need no learnin' or ever have to wrack their brains decidin' what to do with themselves, yes sir.

"Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the 'criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95% of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."

OK, trying to follow the logic here. D.C.'s criminal justice system sucks, therefore, 95 percent of black males are criminal or . . . what is a semi-criminal?

Funny, but people with even a rudimentary grasp of our Constitution and the justice system understand that someone who commits a crime is a criminal, but is presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law. There's no such thing as a semi-criminal.

@SW: What I don't get is that so many folks, including some liberals, don't get it that he's racist. If you just read/heard the text and didn't know who was writing/saying it, you'd swear it was Pat Buchanan. Oh dear Lord, no. The acorn didn't fall from the tree at all.

The scary thing is that some fundamentalists are so batshit they satirize themselves. I don't blame you for thinking that site was real because it's not beyond the realm of feasibility for something they would do. And they even have people who are nearly as batshit if not equally so as candidates for president.

@Elliot: Welcome, kind sir. I only have to look as far as some of my southern kin to believe that that little piece of satire could very well be true. :( Fortunately, not all of us southerners are this crazy and such craziness is not limited to the South - but maybe the latter isn't necessarily a good thing, eh?

Some months ago, I might have ventured that the tea party was a flash in the pan, nothing to worry about long term. Now? I'm worried, too--worried enough to work my butt off to defeat them. I try to remember that they are not a majority, not even in the Republican party, but their propensity for being majorly IN OUR FACES (thanks, Press) makes them dangerous. I don't want to hear that anyone I know or know of plans to sit this one out.

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